Not wishing to totally contradict, but we had much more success going directly to banks! I suppose it all depends on who you get to speak to at the bank and what your mortgage broker is like. The broker we spoke to came highly recommended, but HSBC came out tops.

We had been in the country less than 3 months and made a 10% downpayment. Wife was on temporary contract and I had been in work for just a few days. It certainly helped that we had been with HSBC in England - they were able to check our credit rating through HSBC UK without us having to do anything and it only took them 3 days to get it all sorted. They would lend us up to the legal maximum (95%), charged us their lowest interest rate and we could have any length of mortgage we wanted, up to the legal maximum 35 years. Given those circumstances, we couldn't find any other bank which would lend us money until we had been in work for 3 months. As others have mentioned, having more money to put down makes things more flexible.

We got a mortgage through a broker with Scotia Bank purely on the basis of a 50% deposit and our credit reports (no jobs, no references from UK banks or anything else) having been in the country for about 2 weeks.

Thanks very much to everyone for you experiences, you've helped to put our minds at ease a bit! I think we'll just save up for a few months to get as much of a deposit as we can, and also see what happens with house prices. My fiance is Canadian, and has a good credit rating here, and I have been on her credit card accounts for the last few months, so hopefully that will be enough to build me a good rating too.

Hi Ian

You should really get a credit card of your own, because being a cardholder on your wifes won't help you build credit on your own, cos she is the main cardholder....try getting a Sears card and utilizing that over the ext few months that will help but also , as a broker, we can access your UK credit bureau anyway...just remember to get a letter of reference from your UK bank, cos you will need it.

Hope this helps!

It is easy to get a mortgage provided you have a job. Also if you have a min 20% to put down it makes it easier. Before you come over get your bank in the UK to give you a letter of good standing and bring it with you.

When me and my wife landed, we went to HSBC bank and spoke to an adviser. We got a mortgage by putting 30% of the value of the house down and that was not having a job at the time.